BUFFALO, N.Y. — A public meeting was held at D'Youville University on Wednesday night for the unveiling of the final phase of the Niagara Street rehabilitation and reconstruction project.
While the meeting was only attended by a dozen members of the Niagara Street community, the plans mark that the end is in site for an overall project that began in 2017.
"Phase Five is fully funded," City of Buffalo engineer Nolan Skipper said. "We hope to bid the project out in the coming months, and substantial construction in 2024 season to wrap up Niagara Street as a whole."
Porter Avenue to Hampshire Street will be transforming from a four-lane road down to two lanes. Additionally, there will be new curbs, sidewalks, LED lighting and ADA compliant signage and crossings, similar to recently renovated parts of Niagara Street.
"It's a federally funded job, we have about $7 million total," Skipper said. "So that's federal money, some state matching some local match as well."
Niagara District councilman David Rivera was on hand for the public meeting and is relieved to see the federal funding secured to complete the project.
"When we first started, we say this is the gateway to the United States from Canada," Rivera said. "It should be a gateway, it should look beautiful, residents should benefit from it as well, and that's what we're doing right now."
Some residents at the meeting expressed concerns about bicycles and vehicles sharing a narrowed street. Additionally there was concerns that NFTA busses would be stopping near intersections and creating congestion.
"It's bicycle friendly, pedestrian friendly, an it reduces speeding because it narrows the streets and it has, it has a center lane," Rivera said. "So it does reduce speeding on the street."
There was also concern about drag racing and motorcycle activity on the recently finished portions of Niagara Street, creating damage.
Skipper told the crowd that the DPW would relay those concerns to the Buffalo Police Department, who did not send a representative to the public meeting.
Construction on that portion of Niagara Street could begin by the end of 2023, with a target completion date of summer 2024.